After more than 25 years working overseas and having gained considerable experience in the Libyan oil industry, I never imagined that I would find myself registering for work in my country of birth. The disastrous civil war in Libya resulted in the loss of thousands of my Libyan brethren’s lives, and the loss of my overseas assignment.

On applying to register for work in Malta, I was flabbergasted by the negative discrimination heaped on the victims of society, i.e. the unemployed, and the appalling treatment meted out to the unemployed by the authorities at large. 

First and foremost, and contrary to popular belief, it should be noted that not all unemployed receive social benefits. A number of the unemployed are classified as not eligible for unemployment benefit because they did not pay enough national insurance contributions, or if they paid the self-employed one and heeded the President of Malta’s advice given at the beginning of the new year to put some savings aside, they would automatically become ineligible for unemployment benefit if the savings thus accrued exceed a certain sum of money. It does not need to be a large sum – the equivalent of four months of ministerial honoraria will do i.e. about €14,000, which for the miserable unemployed may well be his/her life’s savings. 

In trying to obtain specialised accredited training (no, not the training courses conducted by ETC consultants, which are not recognised by or are affiliated with overseas universities), such as specialisation in IT (perhaps to fill one of the vacancies of the five thousands promised in SmartCity), the unemployed is expected to fork out the money in advance. This, according to a much-hyped scheme known as Training Subsidy Scheme (Academic), was intended to “Empower People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Lie”, a programme part financed by the EU Social Fund in the ratio of 85 per cent EU funds and 15 per cent national funds. When one considers that such applicable programmes in Digital Media and Financial Services could cost and are granted for up to €12,000 (EQF/MQF level 5) and up to €18,000 (EQF/MQF level 6), how is it logical to expect the unemployed to fork out so much money in advance, when he/she is trying to make ends meet and trying to cope with an ever rising cost of living. The applicable grant may eventually be awarded or refused after lengthy official procedure are carried out, which is supposedly necessary to scrutinize all applications. On the other hand, university students attending courses at our local university do not have to fork out any money, all is paid and they also receive a stipend. Isn’t this a clear case of negative discrimination against the unemployed who are not only trying to obtain higher education for themselves but are also seeking to be of better use to society? Even Senior Citizens are treated better in this respect with the opportunity to attend the University for the Elderly. They do not have to pay any money up front, and if they do not complete the degree course they do not have to reimburse the government and/or the taxpayer for the costs involved. Not so for the unemployed, because in these funding projects, the unemployed would be contractually obliged to pay back the grant involved if, for one reason or another, he/she fails to complete the programme (page 7 third para from bottom of page of the TSSA Scheme Guidelines). Isn’t this another clear case of discrimination against the unemployed? The ultimate offence of this injustice would be if after prolonged governmental bureaucracy it is revealed that the EU funding for this scheme has been depleted (consequently, no refund for the monies forked out by the unemployed) and/or that the so promised five thousand IT specialist jobs at SmartCity turn out to be another shattered dream.

Another scheme recently launched is aimed for minimum wage earners, whereby they are given payment for attending training courses.  But what about those unemployed who are classified as ineligible for unemployment benefit and thus do not get any? Don’t they deserve some compassion and reward for training to serve society better?

As if these obstacles, deterrents, and negative discrimination with the unemployed are not enough, jobs offered at the so-called Job Centers, and advertised in the local newspapers, carry no indication of conditions of work such as salary and so on, like those job vacancies advertised in European newspapers (especially the British ones with which we are more familiar). Thus the unemployed might be terribly disappointed to find out when attending a job interview, that the salary being offered is the minimum wage, and not commensurate with his/her qualification and work experience. Moreover, the call to submit application and CV for work offered via ETC may be for a job that is at the farthest point from the job seeker’s residence (i.e. living in Mellieha, job prospect in Hal Far). The interviewee is then expected to report back to the ETC on what the prospective employer intends to do − employ the job applicant or reject him/her. How can the job seeker find out about this? He is supposed to contact the prospective employer and ask him/her the pertinent questions. But in most cases, employers might consider this a good reason for automatic rejection of the job applicant. This situation puts the job seeker in a quandary and one wonders whether this full-of-pitfalls process has been concocted by those mysterious, highly paid, governmental consultants.

With regard to work experience acquired by the unemployed before they had the misfortune of losing their job, this is given no consideration or accreditation by the pertinent local educational evaluation boards. In the United States and some EU countries even a university degree can be awarded for acquired work experience, but not so in Malta. 

Last but not least is the appalling treatment dished out to the unemployed when registering for work. Human rights activists contend that the taking of fingerprints without consent is against human rights and that only criminals or criminal suspects are bound to have their fingerprints taken. In the case of the unemployed, he/she has to have his/her fingerprints taken whether they like it or not – otherwise they will not be able to register for work, which is done by fingerprint registration.  Isn’t this a clear case that the unemployed are considered as being on the same level as criminals? But the true criminal in our society are those who have squandered public funds in wasteful, unproductive, and detrimental projects such as the removal of City Gate, narrowing related entrance bridge, building an unnecessary grotesque new parliament, reconstruction of a theatre without a roof, a port bridge leading to nowhere, etc… etc… The criminals are also those who have mishandled erstwhile profitable public corporations to the extent that these are now either extinct, on the verge of bankruptcy, or sold off to foreign companies under the pretext of privatisation.

In spite of deceitful government propaganda, the unemployment statistics are not realistic – I have encountered several unemployed individuals who are not registering for work through the ETC because the system has failed them. Unfortunately, unemployment is expected to continue rising this year as many economists are predicting a double dip recession (with a probability of world stock markets crash), aggravated by another housing bubble (especially locally), banking collapse, EU austerity measures, and local government instability. Ironically, the people who perpetrated this sordid state of affairs may well retire on a healthy uncapped pension, thanks to the generous Maltese electorate who had elected them in the first place.  No such luck for the unemployed.

Raymond Sammut

MELLIEHA